Couples paid to delay parenthood

DELHI - Thousands of couples in India who agreed to put off having babies for at least two years after their wedding will collect cash payments this month as health officials attempt to curb the country's rapidly growing population.

While neighbouring China shows the first signs of relaxing its strict policy of one child per couple in the face of an ageing population, India is searching for a way of restricting the size of families as the battle over scarce resources grows.

The country's population stands at 1.2 billion and is expected to reach 1.53 billion by 2050. But increasing pressure on resources means that there is barely enough water and food to go round.

A pilot project in the Satara district of Maharashtra has proved a success and other states, including Delhi and Assam, are now considering cash incentives.

Satara, funded by the National Rural Health Mission, is offering couples a reward of 5000 rupees ($156) if they delay having a child for two years (70 rupees a day is a good wage in rural areas). If they wait another year, they receive a further 2500 rupees.

The birthrate in the district rose from 16.5 births per thousand people in 2005 to 17 in 2007. The project initially attracted 977 couples, but that figure has risen to 2366.

Satara has about 25,000 marriages a year and 80 per cent result in the birth of a child within the first year. Only 155 couples on the programme left to have children.

The first cheques are to be issued on August 15, with officials cautiously optimistic about a reversal in the birthrate, which is now down to 16.1 per thousand. Couples who take part are also eligible for family planning advice and free condoms.

More than 27 million children are born in India every year and half the population is below the age of 25. If the projections are correct, India will overtake China to become the world's most populous nation by 2050.

Vivek Baid, president of the Mission for Population Control, said India could no longer sustain large families, and that it should now aim for zero population growth. "We feel that two children is a necessity, but that a third is not required," he said.

"People's economic situation is not improved by having more children. It places them under greater financial pressure and exposes them to malnutrition and disease and they do not have the money for education and clothes."

- OBSERVER